


Kaleidoscope

by Duck_Life



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Brainwashing, Episode: s04e24 The Mind's Eye, Family, Friendship, Gen, Romulans, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:08:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22236841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: What if Geordi had been successful in assassinating Governor Vagh?
Relationships: Data & Geordi La Forge, Geordi La Forge & Ariana La Forge
Comments: 5
Kudos: 28





	Kaleidoscope

Captain Picard takes the phaser from his hand. Lieutenant Worf begins to lead him away. There is a dead man on the floor of the cargo bay, and Lieutenant Worf is leading Geordi away. “The Kriosians,” he murmurs, suddenly seized by a compulsion to wash his hands. “Worf—”

“Be quiet, Commander,” Worf says, “please.” 

There is a dead man in cargo bay 4, and Geordi wants to wash his hands. Worf takes him to sickbay, which is surprising because Geordi thought they were heading for his quarters, or no, the brig, or no, Risa, he was going to Risa. The balmy air there had been heavenly. 

Worf is saying something to Dr. Crusher. Geordi reaches down and is surprised to find that his phaser is gone. Where did he put it? Who took it? And what about— Geordi presses his combadge. “La Forge to O’Brien.” No response. Worf takes his combadge away. 

Hours or minutes pass. Maybe seconds. Maybe days. The door to sickbay slides open and Picard marches in, followed by Data. The captain’s face is drawn tight. “Explain yourself.”

“I acted on behalf of Starfleet,” Geordi says, “in support of Kriosian independence.” 

“No.” That’s Data, coming to stand beside him, crouching over the biobed were Geordi sits. “No, Geordi, you did not.” 

“I acted… on behalf of Starfleet…” Yes, he did. Of course he did. Why else would he have pulled out his hand phaser in the middle of cargo bay 4 and killed Governor Vagh? He was just following orders. Whose orders? Starfleet’s orders. Of course. Of course. 

“Somebody take that damn thing off him.” Dr. Crusher’s voice. And then Data’s hands, removing his VISOR. The room seems tilted, now that he can’t see it. He can hear something, some medical instrument buzzing beside his temple and—  _ no _ , no, they are going to show him more horrifying images, are going to plant more awful awful memories in his head and he can’t scrape them out no matter how hard he tries even if he died he would still be seeing those things splattered against his visual cortex like so many dead bugs. 

His arm swings outward, knocking the Romulan aside so he can’t keep tormenting and torturing and showing Geordi all these horrible things. A woman shouts— who? Geordi struggles to stand, reaches out for something, anything—

And then Data gently but firmly pushes him back down to a seated position on the biobed. Sickbay. Right. Yes. Of course. He just shoved Dr. Crusher. He should apologize to her. He should apologize to Governor Vagh for— He should apologize to Miles for—

“Geordi,” Data says, still with his hands on Geordi’s shoulders, “why did you assassinate the governor?” 

Geordi swallows. “To support K-Kriosian independence.”

“No. Why did you kill him?”

“To… to…” His hands are starting to shake, and his VISOR is gone. Who took his VISOR? When did he lose his VISOR? “... I don’t know.” The balmy air of Risa is suddenly hot, stifling. Dr. Crusher is hooking him up to a torture machine and showing him horrifying, hypnotic images. He can taste the drink he drank in Ten Forward after murdering Miles…

“I do.” Geordi can’t tell if Data is speaking to him or to the captain. “Ambassador Kell used an E-band transmitter to feed instructions to the VISOR. This was an attempt by the Romulans to dissolve the alliance between the Federation and the Klingons.” 

“Data, did I kill Chief O’Brien?” 

“No. Chief O’Brien is fine,” Data says. 

“I… I killed Vagh.”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Okay.” Geordi touches the side of his face and wonders again why he isn’t wearing his VISOR. Then, he leans over the side of the biobed and vomits onto the floor. 

It takes two days for Dr. Crusher to confirm that his neural processes are completely back to normal, another four days for Data to make certain that the VISOR’s software is no longer corrupted. 

Geordi spends the time between sickbay and his quarters, with frequent visits from Counselor Troi. “I remember Risa,” he tells her. “I know I shot at the governor, but it feels like it was somebody else,” he tells her. “I feel like I can’t trust my own thoughts,” he tells her. 

Ambassador Kell is in custody. The evidence Data found— the E-band transmitter, the scoring on the shuttlecraft— builds a pretty solid case toward Romulan involvement. There are already Klingons clamoring for a war with the Federation, but Picard’s doing a decent job of making Kell’s plan known. 

Governor Vagh’s death wasn’t Geordi’s fault. It wasn’t the Federation’s fault. The fault falls squarely on Kell and the Romulans. Now it’s just a matter of making sure that the Klingons understand that. 

The investigation brings the  _ Enterprise _ back to Earth. While they’re in orbit, somebody beams up to visit Geordi. “I’ll have someone show her where your quarters are,” Chief O’Brien informs him over the comms. 

Geordi fights the urge to tell Miles,  _ I’m so sorry, I’m so goddamn sorry.  _ Instead he says, “Thanks, Chief.” 

Moments later, his door chimes. “Come in.” 

Geordi isn’t like Troi. He can’t “see” emotions. What he can see are heat patterns, muscle tension, heart rates. Counselor Troi is an empath. Geordi’s VISOR is more like a mood ring. When the door opens, he sees  _ stress _ and  _ sadness _ and  _ concern _ before all the hazy lines and patterns rearrange themselves to form a recognizable picture of his sister. 

“Hey,” Ariana says. “I’m…” She falters, unsure what to say. Ultimately, she just gives up on finding the words and strides across the room to pull her brother into a hug. “I’m here, Geordi,” she tells him, “I’m here.” 

His emotional state has been vacillating pretty wildly between anger and numbness for the past few days. It hadn’t even occurred to him that seeing his sister might make him feel better, but now that her arms are around him he never wants to let go. 

“I didn’t want to do it,” he says, as if she might not realize. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t… I didn’t  _ want _ to…”

“I know,” she promises, smoothing a hand over his back in a gesture that reminds him of their mother. “I know you didn’t. It’s okay.” It’s not okay, none of this is okay. And yet somehow, when she says it with such assurance, it’s hard to argue. 

(Much later, Geordi recollects the visit Captain Picard paid to his brother after everything went down with Locutus. He wonders if it was the captain himself who reached out to Ariana, but he doesn’t ask.) 

  
  
  


“After so many years of peaceful relations between the Klingons,” Geordi marvels, staring down at his hands, “one man ruins it all.” Guinan slides him another synthale and moves to the intercom to call somebody. Geordi isn’t sure who until Data shows up in Ten-Forward and sits in the chair beside him. “Data,” Geordi says, “I don’t know how to deal with this.” 

“Neither do I,” Data responds honestly. “I suppose we should all just… hope for the best.” Hope. It’s strange to hear Data talk of hope. But, then, Geordi figures, no stranger than a trusted Starfleet officer being used as a pawn by the Romulans. He drinks his synthale. 

  
  


In the end, the Klingon High Council doesn’t want a war with the Federation any more than the Federation wants a war with them. It also isn’t difficult to convince most of the Klingons of the truth— after all, they’re ready to believe the worst about the Romulans. Abduction, brainwashing, assassination— it’s all in the Romulan playbook. 

In the end, the only loose end left is Geordi. 

“You’re still you,” Counselor Troi promises him during one of their sessions. “What they did to you, what they took from you… it didn’t change the man you are, Geordi.” 

“How do you deal with taking a life?” he says. “I know it wasn’t really me. I’ve accepted that… I think. But it still happened. A man is dead, and I fired the phaser. And I don’t know how to deal with that.” 

“I know it’s hard,” Troi says. “But you have a support system here. It won’t get easier all at once— but things  _ will _ get easier, Geordi. Little by little.” He nods. He looks down at the heat signature of his hands. 

That evening, he plays cards with Chief O’Brien. 


End file.
